Maybe a large part of the problem is trying to fit what is a polarity into a singular frame. We have this culture based on the premise of a monist ideal, but more often than not, the result is simple reductionism, where we loose all sight of context.

For example, we have this individualist ethos, but the consequence is an atomized culture, that is more easily dominated by institutional authority and mediated by a parasitic financial circulation system. Networks matter as much as nodes.

We view morality as a quest for the good, as some higher ideal, but the reality is that good and bad are the basic biological binary of beneficial and detrimental. The 1/0 of life, from which we rise. Not a cosmic dual between the forces of righteousness and evil. Even bacteria sense it. So when everything is good versus bad, every conflict rapidly devolves into us, versus them, with no middle ground, as that is compromise with evil.

The real tension in life is between the head and the heart. The anarchy of desires, versus the tyranny of judgement.

The fact is that not every acorn gets to be an oak tree. Both paths cannot be taken. We can’t have our cake and eat it too. We are part of the process of nature’s selection and that can be tough at times.

Yet without desire, judgement is meaningless. It is the appetite that gives the banquet of life meaning, even if we have to practice moderation.

That dichotomy of desire versus judgement is the basis of the polarity of liberalism, as social growth, versus conservatism, as civil and cultural consolidation. Like youth and age, it is a cycle.

Youth is nature, the desire to grow, while age shows us the boundaries. Possibly nurture, but also hard knocks.

That’s life.